The fucking cicadas are here..

[demented]

Yesterday they all started coming out of the ground and shit. I fucking HATE HATE HATE bugs and these fuckers are just nasty. They only come out every 17 years and I can remember being little the last time they were here. I didn't mind them back then and used to play with them and collect them lol.. Anyone else dealing with these nasty motherfuckers?

[WPProphet]

Nasty , i hate bugs.

[EviLGuY]

Ugly fuckers. Kill them alllll.....

[NickPapageorgio]

Originally posted by EviLGuY
Ugly fuckers. Kill them alllll.....

Fuckin' Racists...

[candyflip]

Just heard about this on the news. I've got a bunch of trees in my yard that are over 17 years old. I'll have to go and look around tomorrow and see what I see.

[Jon]

I gotta say, I don't mind insects. In fact, I like stepping on them, even with barefeet, doesn't bother me at all. Cicadas are harmless, they are just big and ugly. Although my mom is quite frightened of them, I remember when I was a kid she ran one over with the car because it was in the driveway and she wanted to get passed.. Hahaha.

[MattO]

Actually each year a different brood of cicadas comes out, this cycle is know as "Brood X", the largest one.

There are 13 year and 17 year cycle cicadas, it can get crazy when they overlap, and it has been known to go a year without an emergance.

Some fun facts:

? Cicadas are often called locusts, but locusts are migratory grasshoppers that often travel in vast swarms. The appearance of cicadas in large numbers apparently caused the early European settlers in North America to equate them with the plague of locusts mentioned in the Bible.

? Cicadas are said to make good eating because they are low in fat and high in protein. They are considered a delicacy by many people around the world. The European settlers in North America observed the Indians eating them. During the last emergence of Brood X cicadas in 1987, a number of people in Cincinnati and Illinois were reported to have tried deep-fried and stir-fried cicadas. There was also talk of cicada pizzas and cicada candy, and local newspapers printed cicada recipes.

? Experts say that the best way to eat cicadas is to collect them in the middle of the night as they emerge from their burrows and before their skins harden. When they are in this condition?like soft-shell crabs?they can be boiled for about a minute. It is said they taste like asparagus or clam-flavored potato.

? The animal world pigs out on the cicada feast. Particularly, songbirds make good use of the bonanza, and their young are well supplied with the nutritious insects. Moles are said to flourish on the fully grown nymphs in the weeks prior to emergence. Other wild animals that enjoy the advantage include snakes and spiders.

? Dogs and cats may also avail themselves of the cicada smorgasbord. It does them no harm, although if they eat too many they may have some difficulty digesting a surfeit of cicada skins. There have been reported cases of dogs' digestive tracts becoming blocked by eating too many cicadas.

? Periodical cicadas are found only in the United States east of the Great Plains. The 17-year cicadas are found mainly in the northern, eastern, and western part of their range. The 13-year cicadas predominate in the South. Within the 17-year cicadas there are 12 year classes or broods. This year it is Brood X (Brood Ten) that is emerging, which was last seen in 1987. It is considered to be the largest of the year classes.

? While different broods emerge in different years, there are some years in which there are no broods, the so-called empty class years. Broods generally are geographically based, but there can be some overlapping. Some broods are found only in small areas. Others, like Brood X, can range across as many as 15 U.S. states.

? Each brood of 17-year cicadas actually consists of three different species, and they all emerge together. The species look different from one another, and each one has its own song. Listen carefully and you should be able to distinguish the different choruses, according to experts. The three songs have been described as sounding like the word "pharaoh," a sizzling skillet, and a rotary lawn sprinkler. The different species sing at different times of the day?one favors the early part of the day, another prefers midday, and the third takes the late-afternoon shift.

? Only the males sing. The females are lured to the sound and fly nearer. A female responds to a male with a flick of her wings. The two gradually draw close to one another until they meet for mating.

? In China male cicadas are kept in cages in people's homes so that the homeowners can enjoy the cicadas' songs.

? Cicadas may give away their pending emergence by building thousands of "chimneys" or "stovepipes" on the ground, especially near trees. They will emerge through these structures when they leave the ground and crawl up trees and shrubs.

? The transparent wings of cicadas are said to filter out ultraviolet light. People who have placed a cicada wing on their skin prior to exposure to the sun have noticed that they do not tan under the wing.

? Male cicadas die soon after mating. Females lay 400 to 600 eggs in as many as 40 to 50 different nests before they die.

? Cicadas generally leave no lasting damage, except perhaps to young trees and shrubs. After they have bred and died, they leave the area littered with twigs and leaves that were damaged when the females laid their eggs. The remains of cicada bodies may lie so densely on the ground that there is a smell of decay, but the bodies provide good nutrients for the soil.

? Billions of cicada nymphs hatch in their nests high in the trees, drop to the ground, and burrow into the earth. There they find a succulent tree root, which they tap into with a special strawlike mouth part. They feed on the tree sap and pass through their various growth stages until, 17 years later, it is time to emerge and renew their life cycle.

[demented]

Originally posted by candyflip
Just heard about this on the news. I've got a bunch of trees in my yard that are over 17 years old. I'll have to go and look around tomorrow and see what I see.

They say that if you have any small, baby tree's, you should cover them with mesh and tie it closed at the bottom because they will eat the fuck out of the leaves. Everywhere you go around here all you see is tree's covered. It's a fucking invasion!

[Jon]

Originally posted by demented
They say that if you have any small, baby tree's, you should cover them with mesh and tie it closed at the bottom because they will eat the fuck out of the leaves. Everywhere you go around here all you see is tree's covered. It's a fucking invasion!

I'm gonna start collecting them.. They have to be some kind of delicacy in East Asia somewhere. Perhaps we can bank off them instead of killing them.

[Sly_RJ]

Holy shit!

When I was about 10 we found some bugs that looked exactly like that but could never figure out what they were. Now I know!

[demented]

Originally posted by MattO
? Cicadas are said to make good eating because they are low in fat and high in protein. They are considered a delicacy by many people around the world. The European settlers in North America observed the Indians eating them. During the last emergence of Brood X cicadas in 1987, a number of people in Cincinnati and Illinois were reported to have tried deep-fried and stir-fried cicadas. There was also talk of cicada pizzas and cicada candy, and local newspapers printed cicada recipes.

Yes everyone around here eats them damn things. They even have a fucking cookbook The last time they were here, pizza places were putting them on pizzas and they would deliver them! No shit. You couldn't pay me enough money to eat one of them.. I'd rather eat some bitches fish puss.

[Oedipus]

They taste like peanut butter and dogs love them ... but tend to yack if they eat too many.

[Evelyn]

I love listening to them at night. We don't have them here in CA but when I was in Kansas they did.

We used to sleep on the back porch and watch fireflies and listen to the cicadas and drink spiked ice tea.

They can be a bit pesky when they get caught in your long hair and buzz.

[B40]

Got a big ass can of Raid handy?

[Peaches]

We have Cicadas here in the woods of GA and there are times when you're sitting out on the porch and can't even hear yourself think In the beginning of the spring you can hear what I swear sounds like swarms of them "approaching" as they are off in the distance and get louder every night. Sometimes you can hear them in the morning, but rarely. They are odd things - huge and very clumsy. I've had a few get into the house through an open door and thankfully they're big, loud and easy to find to herd back outside

I live in an area with very little deforestation and little disturbing of the ground, so whatever was there 17 years ago, should still be there.

When I looked on the map, my town was on the far west edge of where the worst of this 17 year swarm. I think it was supposed to start today? So far, just the normal really, really loud sounds, but we'll see.

[Peaches]

I went out from the time I wrote that post until just now. Not a single cicada chirp. Weird.

[demented]

Originally posted by B40
Got a big ass can of Raid handy?

It won't kill them.. so they say.

[stevecore]

i remember back in 7th grade when they came last time. one kid at my school ate one, nasty.

they were everywhere, i would ride my scooter down the street and all you could here was crunch, crunch, crunch.

[hudson]

Originally posted by MattO
Actually each year a different brood of cicadas comes out, this cycle is know as "Brood X", the largest one.

There are 13 year and 17 year cycle cicadas, it can get crazy when they overlap, and it has been known to go a year without an emergance.

Some fun facts:

? Cicadas are often called locusts, but locusts are migratory grasshoppers that often travel in vast swarms. The appearance of cicadas in large numbers apparently caused the early European settlers in North America to equate them with the plague of locusts mentioned in the Bible.

? Cicadas are said to make good eating because they are low in fat and high in protein. They are considered a delicacy by many people around the world. The European settlers in North America observed the Indians eating them. During the last emergence of Brood X cicadas in 1987, a number of people in Cincinnati and Illinois were reported to have tried deep-fried and stir-fried cicadas. There was also talk of cicada pizzas and cicada candy, and local newspapers printed cicada recipes.

? Experts say that the best way to eat cicadas is to collect them in the middle of the night as they emerge from their burrows and before their skins harden. When they are in this condition?like soft-shell crabs?they can be boiled for about a minute. It is said they taste like asparagus or clam-flavored potato.

? The animal world pigs out on the cicada feast. Particularly, songbirds make good use of the bonanza, and their young are well supplied with the nutritious insects. Moles are said to flourish on the fully grown nymphs in the weeks prior to emergence. Other wild animals that enjoy the advantage include snakes and spiders.

? Dogs and cats may also avail themselves of the cicada smorgasbord. It does them no harm, although if they eat too many they may have some difficulty digesting a surfeit of cicada skins. There have been reported cases of dogs' digestive tracts becoming blocked by eating too many cicadas.

? Periodical cicadas are found only in the United States east of the Great Plains. The 17-year cicadas are found mainly in the northern, eastern, and western part of their range. The 13-year cicadas predominate in the South. Within the 17-year cicadas there are 12 year classes or broods. This year it is Brood X (Brood Ten) that is emerging, which was last seen in 1987. It is considered to be the largest of the year classes.

? While different broods emerge in different years, there are some years in which there are no broods, the so-called empty class years. Broods generally are geographically based, but there can be some overlapping. Some broods are found only in small areas. Others, like Brood X, can range across as many as 15 U.S. states.

? Each brood of 17-year cicadas actually consists of three different species, and they all emerge together. The species look different from one another, and each one has its own song. Listen carefully and you should be able to distinguish the different choruses, according to experts. The three songs have been described as sounding like the word "pharaoh," a sizzling skillet, and a rotary lawn sprinkler. The different species sing at different times of the day?one favors the early part of the day, another prefers midday, and the third takes the late-afternoon shift.

? Only the males sing. The females are lured to the sound and fly nearer. A female responds to a male with a flick of her wings. The two gradually draw close to one another until they meet for mating.

? In China male cicadas are kept in cages in people's homes so that the homeowners can enjoy the cicadas' songs.

? Cicadas may give away their pending emergence by building thousands of "chimneys" or "stovepipes" on the ground, especially near trees. They will emerge through these structures when they leave the ground and crawl up trees and shrubs.

? The transparent wings of cicadas are said to filter out ultraviolet light. People who have placed a cicada wing on their skin prior to exposure to the sun have noticed that they do not tan under the wing.

? Male cicadas die soon after mating. Females lay 400 to 600 eggs in as many as 40 to 50 different nests before they die.

? Cicadas generally leave no lasting damage, except perhaps to young trees and shrubs. After they have bred and died, they leave the area littered with twigs and leaves that were damaged when the females laid their eggs. The remains of cicada bodies may lie so densely on the ground that there is a smell of decay, but the bodies provide good nutrients for the soil.

? Billions of cicada nymphs hatch in their nests high in the trees, drop to the ground, and burrow into the earth. There they find a succulent tree root, which they tap into with a special strawlike mouth part. They feed on the tree sap and pass through their various growth stages until, 17 years later, it is time to emerge and renew their life cycle.

wow...the things you learn on gofuckyourself!

[Elli]

Maybe catch them and sell on Ebay? ;)